IAEA: Assad Reactor Was Built for Weapons
IAEA: Assad Reactor Was Built for Weapons
The News
The nuclear reactor Syria was building under ousted President Bashar Assad was configured to produce fissile material for possible use in nuclear weapons, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Monday.
The "configuration" and "technical features" of the reactor were "very efficient in the production of fissile material that could be directly used for the fabrication of nuclear weapons," International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi told reporters in Vienna.
He spoke on the first day of a regular meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors. Syria never declared the reactor and always denied its purpose, Grossi said.
The Numbers
At a separate, previously undeclared Syrian site, IAEA inspectors verified the presence of around 73 tonnes of natural uranium metal in the form of fuel rods with cladding, according to a confidential agency report circulated to member states and seen by The Associated Press.
Timeline
Syria had nearly completed the reactor when Israeli jets destroyed it, Reuters reported. Syria was believed to have run an extensive undeclared nuclear program under Assad that included a reactor built by North Korea in eastern Deir el-Zour province.
Syria's new government agreed to give IAEA inspectors access to suspected former nuclear sites.
Syria notified the IAEA of the existence of a previously undeclared site and invited the agency "to cooperate with the Syrian authorities in the inspection and verification of the site and of any nuclear material to be potentially found."
IAEA inspectors visited Syria and confirmed that "the cooling infrastructure which has now been uncovered is consistent with that of a nuclear reactor." Grossi and a team of senior inspectors also visited the previously undeclared site, where they had to "tear down walls" and squeeze through "very difficult and narrow passages" to reach hidden nuclear material. The site had "boxes scattered all over the place," he said.
The IAEA circulates its confidential report to member states, confirming the roughly 73 tonnes of natural uranium metal.
Grossi says publicly that the reactor's design pointed to weapons-usable material.
Reactions
Grossi stopped short of declaring what Damascus meant to do with the reactor. "Of course, that was never declared, that was always denied, so, and again, intentions cannot be judged, but that was a very serious proliferation concern that we had, and this has been difficult work," he said.
He said the priority now is custody of the material: "the important thing is that this material now is under safeguards" of the IAEA. Inspectors have installed cameras at the location.
Logan Mintz, a director for nuclear materials security at the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative, said natural uranium metal is not directly usable in a weapon but could be "diverted to a covert weapons program that further processes it into plutonium for a nuclear weapon."
What's Next
Whether the uranium stays in Syria or leaves is Damascus's call, Grossi said: "a matter that the Syrian government will have to decide." He added, "We are not requesting them to do this or to do that. For us what's important is that we know all the time where this (material) is until the last gram."
Mintz said that once the material is deemed safe to move, it could be "transported in certified containers" to a third country able to "safely and securely disposition it into a more chemically stable and more widely used form" for possible use in nuclear power plants. "As with any transport of nuclear material, this movement would require robust security from theft or sabotage," she said.
The IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna continues this week.
More
The uranium find is the product of access the IAEA never had under Assad. Inspectors spent years pressing Damascus on the Deir el-Zour site with little cooperation; the change of government opened the doors, and the agency now says it has eyes and cameras on material it previously could only guess at.
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What should happen to Syria's 73 tonnes of natural uranium?
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